The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey that samples
a small percentage of the population every year to help with economic
development. It is a replacement for the US census long-form . The American
Community Survey is performed annually rather once a decade (as is the census)
by sending it to approximately 250,000 American households monthly ( 3 million
a year).

Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau's acting director, announced on
December 17 that they will now permit an online response as an option.

The [USA] Ohio Department of Health (ODOH) maintains an index of all
marriages and divorces registered by Ohio Probate courts and submitted to the
ODOH back to 1950. As of January 1, 2013 the ODOH Office of Vital Statistics
(ODOH/VS) will change the way marriage and divorce abstracts are filed with
them. Starting January 1, 2013 the ODOH/VS will only maintain two years of
marriage and divorce abstracts in their office (2011 and 2012). They will
continue to maintain and electronic index--the new policy only effects the
housing of the physical paper abstracts from 1950 forward.

The electronic index is searchable and provided free to the public. The
ODOH/VS will still be able to confirm marriage and divorce dates, the names of
the individuals involved and the county where the event took place.

While I have a copy of the notice, at the time of writing this notice I was
unable to find it on the Department's website. http://www.odh.ohio.gov/

Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), is a national commemoration of
the contributions that American Jews have made to the fabric the American
culture and society. JAHM announced the theme for the May 2013 celebration:
American Jews in Entertainment. Immigrant Jewish
entrepreneurs or their sons (like Sam Goldwyn, Jack and Harry Warner, Louis B.
Mayer) were integral to the creation of Hollywood.

Beginning in
January 2013, the JAHM website, www.jahm.us,
will be updated with educational resource materials related to the theme
American Jews in Entertainment. Also in January, the JAHM
website will roll out “Speaking of American Jewish Heritage,” an online resource
listing speakers, musicians, artists and authors whose area of expertise is
American Jewish heritage and history.

The JAHM
website is an interactive clearinghouse for events, programs, and activities
nationwide and a resource for school and community leaders. JGSs can
submit their events, in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, sign up for
email updates, and find out what’s happening in your neighborhood and across the
country. See:
http://www.jahm.us/events.aspx

Another part
of the website is entitled 50 stories from 50 States about unknown famous Jews
in history from each state see: http://www.jahm.us/statestories.aspx Societies
may wish to submit a story for
consideration.

History

JAHM recognition was started by President George W. Bush in 2006 as a
result of the Jewish Museum of Florida and South Florida Jewish Community
leaders resulting in congressional leaders urging then-President Bush to
recognize the more than 350-year history of Jewish contributions to American
culture. The recognition of Jewish American Month has been continued by
President Barack Obama. Jewish American Heritage Month had its origins in 1980
when Congress passed Pub. L. 96-237, which authorized and requested the
President to issue a proclamation designating a week in April or May as Jewish
Heritage Week. President Carter issued this first proclamation, Presidential
Proclamation 4752, in April
1980.

NY Orthodontist Michael Lozman started a personal mission to restore the
cemetery in his father's village in Belarus, Sopotskin, which has spread to
help restore other Belarusian villages Jewish cemeteries. Dr. Lozman
realized he could not do this alone and was successful in getting college
students from Dartmouth College to help during their summer schedules over
several years. One-third of the participating students are Jewish. He has
started the Restoration of Eastern European Jewish Cemeteries Project to
help restore more Jewish cemeteries and has received requests for
restoration in Belarus and Lithuania.

Greek police said December 20 that 668 fragments of marble headstones and
other fragments from Jewish graves destroyed during the Nazi occupation inWorld War II have been recovered from a plot of land in Thessaloniki Greece.
Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city. The headstones found are dated
from the mid-1800's until World War II. The engraving includes occupations
as well as the name of the deceased. An estimated 60,000 Greek Jews, most
of the Jewish-Greek population pre-World War II were killed in the
holocaust.

Last June Bnai Brith archives and its Holocaust collection were transferred
to the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives in
Cincinnati,Ohio. It is a discreet collection and not merged in with the
other collections at the American Jewish Archives. Bnai Brith was the first
national federated benevolent organization in the United States--it traces
American Jewish history from the 19th century into the 20th century--from
all facets of American Jewish community.

Michael Hait, a well-known professional genealogist, completed a free PDF
e-book, called the United States Census Pathfinder which includes a
compilation of available information from government and independent
websites about the US census from 1790-1940. Census information grew each
year from the inception in 1790 to 1940--the most recently released census.
The census is an essential tool for every genealogist. To access the US
Census Pathfinder go to: http://tinyurl.com/bnns3bworiginal
url: http://haitfamilyresearch.com/pdf_files/Census_Pathfinder.pdfThe
Pathfinder is copyrighted.

Google has blogs that may be of interest to the genealogical world
specifically Google Cultural Institute .There are 42 stories-- several that
caught my attention include: The Were Children--Deportation and Rescue of
Jewish Children 1940-1945; 19 Kilometers From Auschwitz --The Story of the
Jewish Community of Trezbenia, Poland; The Fate of the Children of Marais,
Grandchildren of the Righteous: Ambassadors of Memory, and more that are not
specific to the holocaust or to Jewish-specific-issues.to view the
stories go to: http://tinyurl.com/9aans5xoriginal
url:http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/#!home:page=1

Thank
you to the National Genealogy Society Upfront with NGS to alerting us to
this find.

Please join me in congratulating JewishGen for being awarded the
November2012 Seton Shields Genealogical Award. This award is granted
byaward-winning genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
( that is not
atypo--she married someone not otherwise related with same last
name).

In granting the award, Megan stated: "JewishGen is a valuable
resource I'veused many times over the years. If you have any Jewish heritage
or have everused the popular Steve Morse website (http://stevemorse.org/), you'realready
familiar with all JewishGen has to offer, including countless databases and
many other tools and resources. If not, I encourage you to visit and
explore".

The
monthly Seton Shields award is granted in the name of Megan's
late mother.

About the Seton Shields Award:

If you represent an
organization which serves the genealogical community at large - or if you
serve a smaller community (perhaps you produce a family newsletter, host a
website, organize reunions or some such thing) -- and find yourself shy of
necessary funds, please consider filling out the form to apply for a small
grant. Megan will review all submissions and periodically select one for a
donation. Megan's goal is one per month.
Submissions will remain active
candidates for six months from the date of receipt. She has awarded 150 such
grants since May 2000.
To learn more about the Seton Shields award and
perhaps apply for one go to:http://www.honoringourancestors.com/grants.html

I
do not know the amount of the awards--but since Megan is funding them herself
expect that they are in the smaller range.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County
(JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co-sponsored with and located at Temple
Adat Elohim, on Sunday, January 6, 2013 1:30-3:30 p.m.at Temple Adat Elohim 2420
E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA

The
Program:Jewish Genetic Disorders Across the Diaspora: Including
Tay Sachs, Gaucher, BRCA1, BRCA 2 Mutations in the Ashkenazi Jewish Population
and Genetic Screening for the Persian Jewish Community.Certified
genetic counselors will be talking about various Jewish genetic disorders that
affect different Jewish populations. They will talk aboutthe importance of
knowing our family health history-an integral part of genealogy-and the
increased risks of inherited diseases of Ashkenazi(Eastern European) Jews.
Included in the discussion will be BRCA testing (breast and ovarian cancer) as
well as Tay-Sachs, Gaucher and Familial Dysautonomia in the Ashkenazi Jewish
community and a novel genetic screening panel for Persian Jewish community. Find
out why some Jewish families would benefit from education, screening and testing
for certain disorders.

We will have Categories A & B of
our traveling library available beginning at 1:00 PM to shortly after the
meeting. The list of books which are in the JGSCV library is located on our
website www.jgscv.org under
library-traveling.

There is no charge to attend the meeting and all are
welcome to attend. Our 2013 membership dues campaign is well underway.
Membership forms are available at the meeting, on the jgscv.org website and in
our newsletter, Venturing Into Our Past. Annual dues are $25 for an
individual and $30 for a family. Dues paid are good through December 2013.

Directions:
Take 101 Freeway - exit Rancho Road in Thousand Oaks, go north (if coming from
the west, cross Thousand Oaks Blvd ) to E. Hillcrest Drive turn right on
E.Hillcrest go about 1.3 miles (just east of Conejo School Road ) Temple is on
the right. There are approximately 75 parking spots within the complex.
There is no parking on Hillcrest Drive . You may park in the complex or
on any of the side streets.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County
is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools
with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history.

With its
incredibly valuable databases (currently containing more than 21 million
records), networking tools (such as the Family Finder) and projects (such as
KehilaLinks and Yizkor book translations), JewishGen has
become indispensable to anyone in search of answers about
their past.

Act now! Make
your credit card contribution at JewishGen’s secure website by clicking here.
(All donations received before December 31st will be eligible for full tax
benefits for US donors.) If you prefer to donate by check, please make it
payable to JewishGen and send it to:

JewishGen

36
Battery Place

New
York, NY 10280

USA

I wish
you and your family a happy, healthy New Year, and best of luck with your
research.

With
warm regards,

Gary
Mokotoff

Volunteer
since 1988

Creator
of JewishGen’s Family Finder and Family Tree of the Jewish People

The US Library of Congress released over 1,600 color photographs from the
USA's World War II era, past. Usually photographs from that time period were in
black and white not in color. The images were made between 1939 and 1944.
The pictures depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands, with a focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects
of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training,
and women working.

The Irish Army Census of 1922 --the year the Irish National Army was
formed- just celebrated its 90th anniversary. The Anglo-Irish Agreement
stipulated that with regard to strength,that the force could not exceed the size
of the military establishments maintained in Great Britain as that which the
population of Ireland bears to the population of Great Britain. Without accurate
information, headquarters staff could not adequately estimate pay bills, feed,
clothe or procure weapons or even determine how many troops they had at their
disposal. By October 1922 the Army Council had decided that a Census of the
National Forces would be taken as at midnight 12/13th November.

The census hasn't been transcribed, so you'll
need to have some idea of where your relative might have been based in
1922

Last month we learned the disturbing news
that the Washington State Department of Health was planning on proposing to
reduce access to vital records requiring 125 years for birth, 50 years for
marriage, death and divorce. The Washington State Public Records Committee
meeting was scheduled December 5 to hear the request.

This was met with great concern across the genealogical community and a
lot of publicity ensued. We have been advised that the Department of Health is
backing away from their original plans to offer legislation on access to vital
records in the upcoming legislative session--however, future legislative plans
are unclear. In addition we have been advised that the Department of Health
will be transferring the vital records that under current law are required to be
housed in the State Archives--for preservation and access. The State Archives
will have to digitize these records. When we know more about which years and
accessing them it will be reported on this forum.

The State Library of Western Australia has digitized and put online the
Police Gazette of Western Australia from 1876 forward. It lists all the police
activity by year. The information includes a list of people arrested and their
sentences, police appointments and promotions, conditional pardons issued to
convicts, physical descriptions of convicts, etc. I tried some "Jewish
sounding" names such as Cohen and Levine and received multiple hits. You can
search by surname, place and convict number.

Five hundred and twenty years after the start of the Inquisition, Spain
opened the door to descendants of Sephardic Jews whose ancestors had fled the
Iberian Peninsula, forced, in order to live in Spain or its colonies, to choose
between exile or conversion to Christianity. Spain officials have promised to
speed up the naturalization process for Sephardic Jews who spread through the
Diaspora--however, the offer is not simple according to Genie Milgrom, president
of the JGS of Greater Miami who is quoted in the article in the New York Times
and International Herald Tribune on Sunday December 9.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain told the article's author,
Doreen Carvajal, to be naturalized and become citizens, secular bnei anousim
(descendants of anousim or crypto Jews) Jewish applicants whose families had
maintained double lives as Catholics must seek religious training and undergo
formal conversion to Judaism. The Federation will screen and certify the
Sephardic Jewish backgrounds of those who submit applications to obtain Spanish
citizenship.

Questions of relationships—like the one above—take on
headache-inducing proportions for my mother's side of the family, the
Brownsteins. Why? Because the more I questioned and researched, the more knotted
the ancestral picture became.

And twisted, metaphorically speaking, of
course.

For at least three consecutive generations beginning at my
great-grandparents' level, I found siblings marrying first cousin siblings: a
Brownstein brother and sister would marry a Faber sister and brother; or, a
Brownstein brother and sister would marry a Sarfas sister and brother.

This would then be reproduced again (no pun intended) at the next
generational level: a child created from a first cousin union would then marry a
child created from another first cousin union. And so on.

What was wrong
with these people? Is this even legal?

The net effect—from a genealogical perspective—was a common
ancestor for many generations that followed, and great complication as well, not
only for creating a family tree using standard software programs, but also for
keeping straight “who's who”. I cannot quickly and easily rattle off from memory
family relationships on the Brownstein-Sarfas-Faber side of the family without
inducing a severe headache. I need a paper drawing, and even then...

To add insult to injury, none of the three families ever showed
much creativity or imagination in choosing new names for their offspring. They
just kept reusing the same old names. Result: multiple names like David and Sam
and Esther in all three families.

So here is my genealogy nightmare—I mean, knot—in a simplified
form:

My great-great grandmother Leah Sarfas of Kamyanets-Podilskyy,
Ukraine, had three sons with her husband Aaron Brownstein of Mohyliv-Podilskyi,
Ukraine: Louis, David, and Harry. David was my mother's grandfather and
therefore my great-grandfather. (I will not be talking about brother Harry
because he appears to have married and reproduced in a normal, healthy way.)

Leah also had a daughter named Anna Sarfas whose biological father is a
family mystery; hence, she is known in the family and in the records as Anna
Sarfas, not as a Brownstein like her (half) brothers Louis, David, and
Harry.

Leah herself had a brother named Wolf Sarfas. Wolf had a son and a
daughter. The daughter's name was Ida.

On the same generational level as
Leah and her brother Wolf was the Faber family, likely also of
Kamyanets-Podilskyy. That family had three sons (one was named Solomon) plus one
daughter named Lena.

At some point, all three families—Brownstein, Sarfas, and
Faber—lived in Mohyliv-Podilskyi.

In 1911, large pieces of these three
families—women and children only—would emigrate together to Chicago, their
husbands having preceded them.

Sondra Kaufman married Herb Brownstein, the son of Ben—sadly, in my direct
line—a younger brother to Berl Brownstein, my grandfather and son of David
Brownstein, my great-grandfather.

Just before emigrating from Mohyliv-Podilskyi to
America in 1911, three portrait style photographs were taken at a professional
studio of the three families, Brownstein, Sarfas, and Faber. These photos are
precious to me for several reasons.

First, they each came to me from different sources in the family
and at different times. It wasn't until all three were united and I sat facing
them on my desk that I realized they were shot at the same photography studio,
possibly on the same day: the stylized backdrop for each photo—the palm tree,
the vase on the Victorian stand, the wooden rocking horse—is identical in all
three.

Second, the photos, taken together, represent three generational
levels, with the matriarch, Leah (Sarfas) Brownstein, my
great-great-grandmother, as the common link.

Third, two of the photos
have Leah (wearing the scarf) with her daughters-in-law and their children.

In one photo is Rose (my great-grandmother, married to David
Brownstein) and her two children, Berl (my grandfather, on the wooden rocking
horse) and baby Ben (whose son Herb would later marry Sondra Kaufman, born as a
Faber and discussed above). Also in the photo is Schulim, the son of Lena, the
other daughter-in-law.

In the second of the three photos is Leah (again
in scarf), but this time with daughter-in-law Lena and her two children, Schulim
(now he is on the rocking horse) and baby Mojsche (Morrey).

Sarfas Family, c. 1928, Kamyanets-Podilskyy

In the third photo, which came to me quite a while after the
other two, Leah is not present. However, present in her place, at the center of
the photo, is Leah's daughter Anna (the one with the unknown biological father,
bearing her mother's maiden name of Sarfas but now married to a Faber) and four
of Anna's children, including baby Nettie who would later marry Schulim (a
Brownstein)! Also present is Anna's mother-in-law, Dora Faber.

The women
and children of the three photos would a few months later travel together from
Mohyliv-Podilskyi to Chicago, via Bremen and Baltimore, to join their husbands.

In subsequent years, many (including my great-grandparents David
and Rose and their children, including my grandfather Berl) would move to Los
Angeles; other Brownsteins would follow, some changing their names to
Bronson.

In the late 1990s while living in California, I visited Fanny
Golob nee Sarfas. She was in her 90s. My (non-Jewish) husband Jay enjoyed a
tongue sandwich with Fanny—much to her delight—at a nearby west Los Angeles
deli. Back at her apartment, Fanny shared with me family stories and photos. One
photo was of her and her Sarfas family (parents and siblings) taken in
Kamyanets-Podilskyy around 1928. Her father Yosel was the son of Wolf, the
brother of Leah, my great-great grandmother, and the common ancestral link in
the three families, Brownstein, Sarfas, and Faber.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co-sponsored with and located at Temple Adat Elohim, on Sunday, December 2, 2012 1:30-3:30p.m.at Temple Adat Elohim 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA

The Program:Getting The Most Out of Ancestry.com

Do you have an Ancestry.com subscription (or are thinking about getting one) but suspect that you are only using a fraction of what can be done with the powerful tools and resources available on this website? Spend an afternoon with Crista Cowan, The Barefoot Genealogist, as she shares what's new on Ancestry.com. She'll show you how to access key record collections to assist with your Jewish and other European family history research. She'll also share some of her favorite search tips and site tricks. Join us to learn more about unleashing the full potential of Ancestry.com on your family history. Even if you've been using Ancestry.com for years you are sure to learn something new!

Speaker: Crista Cowan, Community Alliance Manager Ancestry.com. "The Barefoot Genealogist" has been employed at Ancestry.com since 2004. Crista has been involved with family history research for over 20 years and is the owner of Legacy Family History Services, specializing in descendancy research, Jewish immigration, and sharing family history with the genealogically challenged.

We will have Categories A & D of our traveling library available beginning at 1:00 PM to shortly after the meeting. The list of books which are in the JGSCV library is located on our website www.jgscv.org under library-traveling

There is no charge to attend the meeting and all are welcome to attend. Our 2013 membership dues campaign has started-any one joining or renewing at our December 2nd meeting and is in attendance at our December 2nd meeting is eligible to have their name drawn for great genealogical gifts! Membership forms are available at the meeting, on the jgscv.org website and in our newsletter, Venturing Into Our Past. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a family. Dues paid are good through December 2013. Light refreshments will be served celebrating Chanukah and our membership drive.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history.

For more information, including directions to the meeting, please see the JGSCV website: www.jgscv.org

Most of us concentrate on the immigrants that arrived at Ellis Island in
its earlier years and forget that it while it opened in 1892 it was receiving
immigrants until November 1954. Time-Life recently posted 30 photographs never
previously published by famous Life photographer Alfred Eisenstadt who visited
Ellis Island in the fall of 1950. Nearly one-third of all Americans can trace
their ancestry to one of the 12 million people who arrived in the US at Ellis
Island at New York Bay.

Some
of the pictures in this gallery appeared in the November 13, 1950 issue of LIFE

Time-Life also posted photographs from Inside Nazi Occupied Poland in
1939-1940-- a German
photographer and ardent Nazi named Hugo Jaeger documented the brute machinery of the
Reich, including the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. LIFE.com presents a series
of photos from Warsaw and from the town of Kutno, 75 miles west of the Polish
capital, in 1939 and 1940.In June 1940, all of
Kutno’s roughly 8,000 Jews were forced into the ghetto.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Cyprus
Collection (1945-1949) is available online for the first time. The
collection includes 16,667 pages of textual files including personal letters,
group petitionsand newspapers published by the deportees. From 1946 until
the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the British confined
some 53,000 Holocaust survivors on the island of Cyprus. From August 1946
toFebruary 1949, the deportees lived behind barbed wire in 12 camps on
Cyprus. During this period, 53,000 Jews passed through the camps, 2,200
children were born in the camps, and 150 Jews died there--nearly all of the
deportees were survivors of the Nazi death camps. The collection also has
180 photographs taken at the detention camps. See: http://tinyurl.com/cpp2mjc
original
url:
[http://archives.jdc.org/sharedlegacy/photo-galleries/gallery-cyprus-detention-camps.html
]

Judaica Europeana is a growing network with currently30
institutions: libraries, archives and museums in Europe, Israel and the US.
Judaica Europeana is led
by the European Association for Jewish Culture working closely with the
Frankfurt University Library and the National Library of Israel. It provides
integrated access to digital collections which document Jewish life in Europe
via Europeana, Europe’s digital platform for cultural heritage. To date the
project has made available online 3.7 million items. It can be searched in 30
languages and by geographic area. One can find books, photographs, manuscripts
to the culture of Jews .

Please join me in congratulating, Genie Milgrom, president, JGS of Greater
Miami on being awarded the Florida State Genealogical Society's Genealogy
Outstanding Achievement Award! Genie's research involved the evidence of the
Medieval Notary Records that helped her trace an unbroken maternal lineage as
proof of Jewish roots found through Catholic records. Genie has been able to
trace back 15 grandmothers to her ancestral roots to Fermoselle, Spain. Her
research took her genealogical journey from Jewish (pre Inquisition) to Crypto
Jewish to Catholic back to Jewish. Genie's recently published book, My 15
Grandmothers tells her story--the Florida State Genealogy Award is not for
the book, but for her extensive research which led to her writing the
book.

Genie just returned from a trip to Fermoselle, Spain where the town's mayor
proclaimed to be making an Official Act and handed her the Symbolic Key to the
Jewish Quarter of The Village along with a Pergamino

(a formal parchment used for writing)to serve as a Document of
Historical Memory being given to a descendent of the Jews that had lived in
this town of Fermoselle. In history this is only the second time that a Mayor in
Spain has given a Symbolic Key to a descendent of the Spanish Jews.

The Florida State Genealogical Society Genealogy Outstanding Award in
Genealogy is given to an individual, society, or institution to recognize
contributions toward the promotion of genealogical interests or activities within the state of Florida. This could include a
publication; a sustained work in the area of extracting, preserving, accumulating or collecting
genealogical/historical data (regardless of what state in which the data originated or to what state they apply) for
the genealogical community; an instructor of genealogy or local history; or any person who has aided in
furthering the interests of research in genealogy over a period of five (5) or more years. To read more about
the award and award recipients go to: http://flsgs.org/cpage.php?pt=12.
The award was given on November 9, therefore, it may take a few daysfor Genie's name to be added to the list of previous award
recipients on the above-mentioned website.

Michael Milgrom, Genie's husband, nominated her for the
award.

IAJGS is proud of the accomplishment that Genie has done as an example of
the excellence that a Jewish genealogist achieved. It is an example for all of
us to strive to attain. IAJGS and its member societies are indeed fortunate to
have leaders of such caliber.

The National Archives of the UK is launching a series of commemorative
activities for the upcoming of the centenary of World War I . Their first
activity is a blog entitled "My Tommy's War" a blog series following members of
staff at The National Archives as they research their own First World War
ancestors. By following this blog you can learn how to use the vast archival
records for your research. Click on:
http://tinyurl.com/bckfava

The Western Front Association (UK) announced that it secured 6.5 million
soldiers pension records from WWI. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) [sic] was no
longer able to retain and manage its archive of Great War soldiers' pension
records cards and related archives. The records were due to be destroyed if a
haven was not found. During the "Great War" dependents of each serving British
soldier, sailor, airman and nurse who was killed were entitled to a pension, as
were those service personnel who were wounded or otherwise incapacitated due to
the conflict--there is a card for each person.

The Western Front Association's intent is to create an online, searchable
archive. They plan to scan the records digitally and to make them findable
with a searchable database. This will take funding and their fundraising
activities are about to start...therefore, it will be a while before the online
searchable database is available.

To read more and see several examples of what is contained on the archival
pension records go to: http://tinyurl.com/abgs8nd

For those who may be visiting Southern California between now and March 10,
2013 you may find of interest a new exhibit at The Fowler Museum- Lucas Gallery
at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles): Light and Shadows: The Story
of Iranian Jews. The exhibit tells the story of one of the oldest Jewish
communities which dates back nearly 2,700 years since the first Jews exiled from
Jerusalem to Babylonia settled in the Persian sphere. Over a hundred objects,
including archaeological artifacts, illuminated manuscripts, Judaica and
amulets, paintings, and photographs demonstrate the long, complicated, and
vibrant history of Iranian Jews. The exhibit includes from the crypto-Jewish
community of Mashhad whose residents were forced to convert to Islam in the mid
1800's, a pair of miniature phylacteries, designed to fit beneath a man's Muslim
head-covering. The exhibit continues in the Fowler Museum Goldenberg Galleria,
where the exhibition focuses on the twentieth century and ends with Hasan
Sarbakhshian's photographs of Jews remaining in Iran--of which today there are
at least 25,000 practicing Jews-- and installations by artists Shelley Gazin and
Jessica Shokrian about the dynamic community of Iranian Jews in Los
Angeles.

Genealogy includes the study of the culture, society and
artifacts of our ancestors. This exhibit depicts those areas for the Persian
Jewish Community.

This exhibition was created and organized by Beit
Hatfutsot-The Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv, Israel.

The National WWII Museum (USA) [ http://www.ddaymuseum.org/] located in New
Orleans, Louisiana will be holding a special exhibit November 11, 2012
through July 7, 2013, Guests of the Third Reich: American POWs in
Europehttp://www.guestsofthethirdreich.org/home/.
There is an interactive map depicting the locations of selected European POW
camps.

Over 120,000 out of 16 million Americans serving in WWII spent time as
prisoners of war (POW). While the Nazi's "generally adhered " to the Geneva
Convention, those American troops captured in the Pacific by the Japanese --
27, 465-- were not protected by the same restraints--over 40 percent died.
Wartime circumstances and the leanings of individual camp leaders dictated the
fates of those held captive in Europe--92, 820 men lived to tell their
experiences. About 1,100 or 1 percent of the Americans held as POWs by the
Nazi's perished. These approximately 93,000 Americans were anything but
"guests" of the Nazis.

In the exhibit there are several panels that explain how, for the most
part, Jewish-American POWs, many of whom either didn't designate a religion on
their dog tags or ditched them before capture, were not separated from their
comrades and sent to concentration camps. [I had a family member taken and kept
with his comrades and Stalag IVB in Mulberg]. There were exceptions. In
January 1945, the commandant at Stalag IXB rounded up 350 prisoners based on
name or physical characteristics, and shipped them to the Berga concentration
camp.

Do you subscribe to those JewishGen Discussion Groups that cover the areas of
interest in your family history research? JewishGen currently has 24 such
groups, each oriented toward some geographical area of ancestry. These message
boards post regularly—usually daily—announcements about the latest resources
for Jewish family history in their area. They also include inquiries from
people as well as responses to these inquiries. Many of these
inquiries/responses are educational.

Each week I pour through every message posted to each of the JewishGen
Discussion Groups looking for potential news items for Nu? What’s New?
Many of interest to subscribers of the Discussion Group only are not included
in this e-zine because the information is of interest only to the local area
covered.

A list of all the Discussion Groups and how to subscribe can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/ListManager/members_add.asp.
There is also a “Main Discussion Group” all should subscribe to that includes
information of general interest. All groups are moderated to filter out
messages of little value or those that do not adhere to JewishGen guidelines.

Austro-Hungary. If you had relatives that fought in the Austro-Hungarian
army during World War I, then an Internet site at http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/
might be of interest to you. It does not name individuals but provides
interesting background information about the units that fought, badges and
uniforms (which might help decipher pictures), engagements and battles, and
other useful information.

Galicia.
A project has been started on Geni.com seeking to connect all Jewish families
from Krakow on to one family tree. Information
can be found at http://tinyurl.com/GeniKrakow.

Germany.
A biographical memorial book to the Jews of Munich murdered in the Holocaust is
now online. It was originally published in book form in 2003 and again in 2007
by the Munich City Archives. Information about an individual can be extensive
including name, occupation, date/place of birth, deportation date, date/place
of death, names of parents including maiden name of mother, date/placed of
marriage, who married to including maiden name and date/place of birth, names
of children including birth date/place. There also may be a photograph of the
victim. The database can be searched at http://tinyurl.com/MunichGedenkbuch.

Lithuania.
For the 20th year, veteran genealogists Howard Margol and Peggy Mosinger
Freedman will be organizing another group trip to Lithuania. It will be from June 25
– July 5, 2013. Persons interested in tracing their roots in Lithuania, Latvia,
portions of Poland close to Lithuania, or Belarus, may find the trip
valuable. The group is limited to 25 people.

Included are visits to the archives, synagogues, ghettos, Holocaust sites,
meetings with Jewish leaders, sightseeing, guide/interpreters, and two days to
visit and spend time in your shtetl or shtetlach of interest. All meals are
included (except for one dinner and two lunches), the finest hotels, buses, and
much more. The trip planners are on a first-name basis with the archivists and
directors of main places of Jewish interest.

Romania/Moldova. The World Memory project has added information from
questionnaires distributed by the World Jewish Congress in Romania in the
Spring, Summer and Fall of 1945. Information at the site includes name, birth
date, place of residence, marital status and relationship to head of household.
For a specific individual, the names and relationships of all members of the
household are shown. The database, a description, as well as its historical
background can be found at http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2425.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura
County (JGSCV) will hold a general meeting, co-sponsored with Temple Adat
Elohim, 7:00-9:00 p.m. on Monday, November 5, 2012 at Temple Adat Elohim 2420
E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA

NOTE: Different Day of Week and
Time of Day for This One Meeting!

The Program: From the Spanish
Inquisition to the Present: A Search for Jewish Roots

Whether or not
you have known-Sephardic roots, you will find this program of interest-both
for the genealogical techniques Genie Milgrom will discuss as well as her
genealogical journey through time as she criss-crossed the planet for her
Converso or Marrano roots. Milgrom was able to document fully an unbroken
maternal lineage of 15 grandmothers going back to the late 1400's. She
will tell us her personal story and explain in detail the methods she used to
open up the Jewish history of the small village in Spain where her ancestors
resided for over 500 years. Today she is still very active and preserving her
findings in the village of Fermoselle, Spain which sits onthe border between
Spain and Portugal.

Speaker: Genie Milgrom is an International
Businesswoman and is currently the President of the Jewish Genealogical
Society of Greater Miami. She is also the author of the book, My 15
Grandmothers and is President of Tarbut Sefarad-Fermoselle in Spain as well
as an active member of the American Society of Personal Historians. You can
see more information on her websiteat www.geniemilgrom.com . Book signing and
purchasing opportunity--$15.00 per copy.

[Genie just returned from a
trip to Fermoselle, where the town's mayor proclaimed to be making an
Official Act and handed her the Symbolic Key to the Jewish Quarter of The
village along with a Pergamino to serve as a Document of Historical Memory
being given to a descendent of the Jews that had lived in this town of
Fermoselle. In history this is only the second time that a Mayor in Spain has
given a Symbolic Key to a descendent of the Spanish Jews. If you wish to read
about her trip a brief write-up is in the JGSCV's current issue of Venturing
Into Our Past accessible on our website: www.jgscv.org and click on newsletters 2012
issues for the November issue.]

We will have Categories A & C of our
traveling library available beginning at 6:30 PM to shortly after the
meeting.

Our 5-minute genealogical hint at the beginning of the program
will be by JGSCV President, Jan Meisels Allen on researching US military
records to commemorate Veterans Day.

The Jewish Genealogical Society
of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical
information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish
genealogy and family history. (www.jgscv.org).

There is no charge to
attend the meeting and all are welcome to attend. Our 2013 membership dues
campaign has started-any one joining or renewing from now to our December 2nd
meeting and is in attendance at our December meeting is eligible to have
their name drawn for greatgenealogical gifts! Membership forms are available
at the meeting, on the jgscv.org website and in our newsletter, Venturing
Into Our Past. Annual dues are $25 for an individual and $30 for a
family. Dues paid are good through December 2013.

For more
information, including directions to the meeting, please see the JGSCV
website: www.jgscv.org

We are pleased to welcome the following webpages to
JewishGen KehilaLinks We thank the owners and webmasters of these webpages for
creating fitting memorials to these Kehilot (Jewish Communities) and for
providing a valuable resource for future generations of their descendants.